Ranking and Clustering Australian University Research Performance, 1998-2002

This paper clusters and ranks the research performance of 36 Australian universities according to their research performance over the period of 1998-2002. Research performance is measured according to audited numbers of Ph.D. completions and publications, and research grants income (in accordance with rules established by the Department of Education, Science and Training), and analysed in both total and per academic staff terms. Hierarchical cluster analysis supports a binary division between 15 higher-performing and 22 lower-performing universities, with the specification in per academic staff terms identifying the self-designated research intensive Group of Seven universities, plus several others in the better-performing group. The higher-performing group includes the 7 research-intensive Group of Eight universities examined. Factor analysis indicates that the top three research performers in terms of total research performance are the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, and Queensland, while the top 3 in terms of per capital academic staff are the Universities of Melbourne, Adelaide, and Western Australia. Data and Descriptive Analysis is appended. (Contains 6 tables.)